Limited Edition Artwork

2 pledges

One limited edition giclée print of an artwork (chosen by the author), either a portrait of a character or one of 3 scenes from the book by the authors, ebook edition and your name in the Super Patrons list in the front of the ebook.

Artwork Collection

1 pledge

Limited edition giclée print of the cover art from Unbound's award winning designers, 3 limited edition portrait prints of characters and 3 limited edition prints of scenes from the book by the authors, ebook and name in the Super Patrons list in the front of the ebook.

Frontispiece & Artwork Collection.

Nighthawk print, 3 limited edition portrait prints of characters and 3 limited edition prints of scenes from the book by the authors, you or your institution's name to be printed at the front of the book opposite title page, with personal author dedication thanking you for your special donation, and the ebook.

A mother and daughter team brings you Blackthorn: a Nighthawk agent. A spy/assassin novel full of action, corruption and betrayal.

Hale is a thriving city of merchants and noblemen – but not without its cutthroats and thieves guild, like any of the other cities of Etheda.

Blackthorn, one of the king’s Nighthawk agents; assassin, spy and bodyguard, is a man assailed by his haunted past. After the murder of his family, he vows that one day he would have his revenge.

For five years he had been looking for him. For five long years he had scoured the length and breadth of the Five Kingdoms looking for the man who had taken everything away from him, and left him a shell of his former self. But, as fate would have it, he found him lurking in the cesspool of filth in the corner of the southernmost tip of Tursia: Hale. But his time for revenge has yet to come, for he must bide his time as the pressing matter of his duty bears down heavily upon him.

His job is simple: secure the city for the arrival of King Tyrus. But the task proves far from simple and his time is running short.

When he trails a merchant suspected of selling information to the Sneakers against the realm, he stumbles across an unreadable note. Suspecting it to be a threat of assassination, he hands the note to a trusted friend to decipher. Now as the king’s impending arrival draws near, and with children disappearing from their homes and the arms of their mothers, Blackthorn senses something far deadlier is amiss and must quickly discover the true target of the plot and act to thwart their plans.

Will he be able to stop the threat in time? Will he finally get the justice he deserves for the murder of his family? There is only one question Blackthorn asks himself, who can he really trust?

Join the authors as they lead the characters through twisting streets and rooftop chases and weave a gripping story of revenge, corruption and betrayal.

Samantha is an artist and newly-found writer, first coming into the profession in early 2014, where she was intrigued by her mother’s idea of writing a novel partially based on a mythical dog that was rumoured to roam East Anglia as far back as the Middle Ages. When she read a small draft of the now published Dawn of the Awakening Part 1: Demon’s Bite, she leapt at the prospect of writing it with her mother, Amanda.

Her love of art came from her mother and was eager to learn it more progressively through Fakenham High School in GCSE’s. However, she never pursued it as a career opportunity, but continues art projects as a pastime hobby.

Growing up, Samantha has always lived with dogs and realized how much she loved animals. Throughout her 7 years of study at Easton College, she learned Animal Care and finally graduated with a Foundation Degree in Ecology and Conservation. One Christmas, she was given a bat detector and now enjoys late night walks around her village with her parents detecting them around the village church of which they hibernate.

She currently lives in Norfolk, England, and is in the process of writing Dawn of the Awakening Part 2: Dragon Scales, Dragon Fire and Blackthorn, a prequel to the Dawn of the Awakening series.

***

Amanda Lloyd was born in Suffolk England in 1962. She moved to Leicestershire at the age of four and was raised on her family farm where she found her love of working with, and painting animals.

She has worked with cattle, sheep, horses, goats, chickens, pigs and dogs. But her true passion has always been writing and artwork from an early age at school and has come from fantasy when she was introduced to the world of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and J R R Tolkien's books the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and also western books of J T Edson.

In the early 80's she obtained her ‘A’ level art award in fine art. She was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons and Karate, and in 1988 she moved to Norfolk England and later Married, adding Jennings to her name. She has worked in several factories for numerous years, has been a carer for four years and now returns to poultry farming and lives still in Norfolk England with her husband and two wonderful grown-up twin daughters.

Amanda has published a fantasy novel which was co-written with her daughter Samantha as a self-published author. She was inspired by a visit to Norwich Castle dungeon one day as she accompanied her family on her twin daughter’s birthday.

So moved by a story she heard concerning a little girl way back in the middle ages that she raced downstairs one Sunday morning and started writing her first book in 2014.

Darkness was his friend, engulfing him like a cloak as he squatted in the shadow of the chimney stack on the rooftop. He felt safe, secure. Even from the watchful eyes of the Watch tower two streets away, bathed in the rays of the setting sun as the wood-shingled and slate roofs caught the light. Nothing frightened him in the dim light, for he was darkness itself. His name was darkness: Blackthorn. His clothes were dark as night, blacks and browns, and tight fitting. His hood was pulled over his head and a mask over his face. Only his eyes were visible, with soot smudged around them to hide his pale skin in the shadow of night. He moved around in the shadows, keeping his eyes on his mark in the dimming distance.

The twin moons – one the colour of red mist – that brightened with every inch the sun dissipated behind the peaks of the snow-caped Eswyr Mountains to the west, clung to the greying aether as if appeased of the golden orb’s departure. The city was slowly cloaked under cover of profound darkness. Yellow glows sporadically illuminated from open windows as city dwellers and servants lit their candles. Men wandered the streets with glowing metal rods lighting street lanterns.

God bless you Dad.

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

On Saturday 11th of March 2017 at 1.30 am I recieved the phone call that I had been dreading from the hospital - my father Peter Lloyd had passed away at the age of 85yrs from cancer.

I was truley sorry that I was not there for him at the end, I had cared for him for 2 yrs continually and working full time 6 days aweek for 50 hours with no help from Social Services what-so-ever, so when he was…

Fellow Unbounders . . . and others!

Sunday, 3 April 2016

Let me start by saying a massive thank you to Shona Kinsella, Paul Holbrook and Tot Taylor for pledging their support and breaking us out of the 4% that we had been stuck on for the past couple of weeks. Your support is greatly appreciated, and we cannot thank you enough.

As to the progress of our project, we have reached the 55,000 words mark and it is still growing. We continue to add new diverse…

Words of a different kind.

Sunday, 20 March 2016

I thought it was about time to introduce one of my favourite characters to you, by the name of Fawlkes.

He is a man of simple needs, happy with just a quill, ink and parchment, but with a sense of humour which many can find iritating but also refreshing in his own way. I loved creating and writing Fawlkes's character, he is so easy to work with and listen to that he just makes me want to write…

Thank you from the authors & Pledge swapping

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

Hi everyone!

Okay, let me start by saying Thank You Ian Skewis (A Murder of Crows) for your most helpful advice and support! We are very grateful and wish you the best of luck with your book!

Ever since looking into crowdfunding publishing, I have seen the highs and lows (as you do in all things), but one caught my eye when searching and signing up to Inkshares (a US crowdfunding site for books…

News from Hale city.

Friday, 11 March 2016

Thank you P W for not only one pledge but for two! You have made both of us very happy and the first person to pledge for one of our limited edition pieces of artwork - well done.

On a general note now, we are around the half-way mark in writing the book and things are hotting up nicely for Blachthorn as he chases across the rooftops after a mysterious figure and leads him on a merry dance through…

A big thank you Kirsty for making our first day special.

Monday, 29 February 2016

I must say a big thank you to you Kirsty Jennings for making our first day special and making our funding 2%! I hope this is the begining of what is a sign of good things to come.

Samantha and I are so happy to have been selected by Unbound, as I know that there is such a high standard of writers out there, and we are hoping that we can bring Blackthorn to the challange with lots of action, rooftop…